The present invention relates generally to feed mixers used in the agricultural industry, and more particularly, is directed to a small batch mixer for mixing several feed ingredients together to produce a livestock feed mixture having its ingredients uniformly distributed throughout the mixture.
As well known, livestock are no longer just fed corn, grain, silage and the like as was common in the past, but rather, today, with the many scientific and technical advancements made in the field of animal husbandry, livestock are now put on a planned diet and fed a ration consisting of precise amounts of several different feed ingredients, such as, but not limited to, ground grains, vitamins, mineral supplements and other such additives and the like. This is especially true in the dairy industry wherein the specific feed and the amount of that feed fed to a dairy cow not only affects the amount of milk produced by the cow, but also affects the butterfat content of the milk which directly effects the profit and loss of the dairy operation.
These new feed mixtures require a thorough and complete mixing together of the ingredients to obtain a uniform mixture. Livestock operators have the option of going to a commercial feed mill and purchase a specified premix, have the mill mix a feed mixture according to a desired formula, or hire a jockey with a portable feedmill to come to the farm and do the mixing for him. These options are not only expensive but also inconvenient to the livestock operator. An alternative solution is for the livestock operator to have his own feed mixer unit if his operation justifies such a purchase. One type of a feed mixer unit known on the market is the one commercially sold by Farmmaster, Inc., of New Holland, Pa. The Farmmaster mixer is a rather large scale unit specifically designed to mix several bushels of feed at one time, and may be suitable and practical to those operators having a relatively large livestock operation, but for the livestock operator managing a small operation, such a purchase may not be economically practical. In addition to the large size of this unit which requires sufficient room for storage, the dust generated during the mixing operation is forced out the front opening in the unit in creating a very dusty and unhealthy work environment. Yet another disadvantage of the Farmmaster unit is that some of the materials tend to cake or build-up on the rear corners and along the rear wall and thus, are not mixed thoroughly with the other materials, resulting in a non-uniform distribution of the ingredients in the feed mixture.